Boy meets girl. Boy loses girl. Boy and girl sing wistful theme song you can't possibly get out of your head. There is no cinematic bauble to match The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, Jacques Demy's sugar-coated 1964 musical starring a radiant, exquisite 20-year-old Catherine Deneuve as the heroine who is steered by her mother and tearfully betrayed by amour. Mr. Demy's film remains an incredible oddity, from its blazing, audacious color to the fact that its sunny lyrics mention hand grenades and cars needing an oil change. The film, every word, is lip-synched to Michel Legrand's soothing warm bath of a score. — Janet Maslin, NY Times

A novelettish story that in the hands of most directors would be no more than trivial is transformed by Demy into something rather wonderful: a full-scale all singing musical whose inspiration is Hollywood but whose tone and setting are resolutely Gallic. Shopgirl Deneuve loves a poor mechanic who leaves her pregnant when he departs for military service. During his absence, she is courted by a diamond merchant and nudged into marriage by her ambitious mother… This bittersweet romance – whose underlying message would seem to be that people invariably marry the wrong person – is lavished with affection. Vivid colours and elegant camera choreography are bound together by Michel Legrand’s sumptuous score. And never has an Esso station looked so romantic. — Chris Petit, Time Out